In the business of local government there is nothing worse for our municipal leaders than an election year.

With all due respect to the moms of the world, this election year is already setting itself up as the mother of all election years. So how do our leaders plan a budget in an overly political election year? The answer is “you listen.”

So let’s start with what the governor told us. Last month we heard from the Governor that next year he was level funding the state’s revenue to the cities and towns of the commonwealth. He told us that it would likely happen once the legislature did some other things he wanted them to do. We were told to head out and communicate our economic needs to the legislators.

Once it is deciphered, that gubernatorial communication converts to, “Hey, I’m running for re-election and I’m going to give you nothing but good news this year. I want you to know that if you don’t get the same amount of aid from the state next year, you should blame the legislature.” Now we have been told the executive branch’s story. So let’s keep listening.

At the same conference the chairman of the budget committee in the House of Representatives spoke. He warned that it was highly unlikely that the state would be able to afford the same level of funding for cities and towns next year. He indicated that the executive branch included in their proposed budget almost two thirds of a billion dollars of federal funding that had not even been voted in Washington yet.

Once it is deciphered, that legislative speak converts to “Hey don’t blame us, if you don’t get the same funding in your community next year, it is not the state legislature’s fault. We want you to know that if you don’t get the same amount of aid from the state next year, you should blame the federal government.” Now we have a legislator’s side of the story. So let’s still keep listening.

The highest leaders of the legislature are the President of the Senate and the Speaker of the House. So far, they have been the best voices in the sea of stories. Like the others, they have really said nothing. The difference is they really have said nothing. That is what makes them so much better than the rest.

What they both have said is that they want an early legislative vote on state aid. This vote is called a resolution. It means that the two chambers vote to agree on the level of local aid very early in the budget process. Then the two bodies can go on to debate and finish the rest of the state budget. The beauty of a legislative resolution is that it provides the commonwealth’s 351 cities and towns with some certainty in their own rapidly evolving revenue budgets.

The election year is just beginning. In election years we are told too many stories. Generally we tend to hear what someone wants us to hear. Actually, the municipalities already have state revenue documents called “Cherry Sheets” in their hands. The revenue documents are based on the governor’s proposed FY 2011 budget.

So far, we haven’t heard much that says these Cherry Sheets truly represent the state’s revenue that is shared with the cities and towns during the next fiscal year. It looks like this year our municipal leaders will need to keep listening for quite some time to come.